The Rock's 20 secrets

The new champion - Plenty to smile about

Twenty facts you never knew about Hasim Rahman

1) Rahman is 28-years-old

2) He was brought up in Baltimore, Maryland in America.

3) As an amateur, he spent two years under the guidance of Kevin Rooney, Mike Tyson's former trainer.

4) The Wahoos Sports Bar and Grill in Randallstown, Baltimore is going to name a burger after him.

5) He currently lives in Abingdon, Harford.

6) The new champion was so confident of victory over Lewis that he told his mother Joyce Rahman to quit her job as a correctional officer. Which she did.

7) To celebrate one of his children's birthdays, he rented ponies for all the neighbourhood children to ride.

8) Rahman shares his home with teenage cousin Terry Frierson. According to the youngster, the relationship is more akin to that of a father and son.

9) Rahman's wife Crystal had never watched one of her husband's fights live until Sunday. But she was at ringside in Carnival City because she felt confident that her man would win.

10) Rahman's career was nearly derailed a long time ago.

He was a passenger in a friend's truck that was speeding to Baltimore Community College.

The truck flipped, killing his friend, whilst his face was pinned under the gas tank.

He needed more than 500 stitches, and the left side of his face remains badly scarred.

11) He lost his unbeaten record in controversial circumstances to New Zealand's David Tua.

The new champion was outboxing Tua until being hit by a punch thrown blatantly after the bell in the tenth round

Rahman never recovered and was stopped in the following round.

12) The other blemish on his record was a knockout loss to Russian Oleg Maskaev.

In that fight, the American was actually punched out of the ring.

13) His ring idol was Marvellous Marvin Hagler, who was of course ringside working for the BBC when Rahman pulled off his upset.

14) As a Muslim, he prays five times a day.

15) His father, John Cason, who plays a part in training, is a retired engineer and chaplain in the Maryland prison system.

16) The new champion has three children - Hasim Jr., nine; Sharif, four; and Amirah, two.

17) Rahman's success was so unexpected that the town of his residence had not prepared a welcoming party for the new champion.

18) The new champion attributes his success to nothing more than hard work. He believes that he never trained hard for any fight before taking on Lewis.

19) He spent a large portion of his training at the Catskill Mountains in New York, ironically the former home of potential future foe Mike Tyson.

20) The first gym he ever stepped into was the Broadway and Eager Street, a gym which has been run since 1943 by Mack Lewis, an 82-year-old veteran of the fight game.